Reaction To Change Linked To How Firm Informs Employees

March 28, 1986|by TOM MOYLAN, The Morning Call

Ron Bossert should know about change: As a training instructor at Mack Trucks Inc., his company is going through the major change of closing its main truck assembly plant in Allentown and building a new one in South Carolina.

How change in a company is communicated to employees can mean the difference between reduced resistance and increased productivity and low morale, low productivity and even sabotage, Bossert told a group of managers yesterday in a workshop at Northampton County Area Community College.

Managers faced with telling employees about change should first examine their own feelings about the change, Bossert said. After that, they should find out as many facts as they can about it and, of major importance, decide how to tell employees.

Masking or hiding the change can lead to closed communications, increased resistance to the change, lower morale, low productivity and sabotage, Bossert said. And sabotage isn't limited just to vandalism, he added, but can include the leaking or withholding of valuable information.

Open communication, on the other hand, can improve communication, reduce resistance, increase productivity, trust and confidence, he said.

Communicating can be done individually if only certain employees are affected, he said, through a group when all are affected or through "informal leaders" when considerable resistance to the change is anticipated.

Bossert emphasized that timing of the announcement is also important; if employees learn of a change through their unions or the grapevine before the official announcement, their perception can be negative.

If some employees in a group will be negatively affected, Bossert recommended individual discussions afterwards.

The announcement of the change, Bossert said, should include what is changing, when and why it is happening. The employees also should be told how the change will affect them, what benefits it may have for them and what will remain unchanged.

After the communication stage, the manager should solicit questions and opinions, identify with their feelings and accept their reaction, he said.